1,000 yuan a pound of lychees! Not "Lychee Assassin" but "Guardian with Knife"

　　China News Service, July 15th,

　　Zuo Yuqing of Zhongxin Finance and Economics

　　The "ice cream assassin" costing more than ten yuan a piece has now met an opponent.

　　Recently, some media reported that the green lychees sold in Beijing SKP shopping malls were priced as high as 1,049 yuan per pound, and they were sold short within two days of being on the shelves.

　　Some netizens marveled at this: "What kind of assassin is the price clearly marked?" "It's not an assassin, it's a guard with a knife."

　　What is the origin of hanging green lychees that can sell for thousands of yuan?

Lychees in a brocade box

　　Zhongxin Finance noticed that in addition to the SKP malls selling green lychees by kilograms, many green lychees are sold by the number.

　　On an e-commerce platform, most of these lychees from Zengcheng, Guangdong are counted by the number of pieces, and they are packed into exquisite brocade boxes. The brocade box also contains an introduction to hanging green lychees: "The shell is red and green, and both There is a green 'ribbon' wrapped around it, the meat is white and crystal clear, sweet and refreshing, and it is one of the four best fruits in Lingnan."

The hanging green lychees posted by netizens.

Screenshots from social platforms.

　　Zhongxin Finance and Economics found that the price of green lychees on e-commerce platforms generally ranges from 200-300 yuan/catties, and the most expensive single lychee is priced at 98.8 yuan/piece.

　　A merchant told China-Singapore Finance that the production of green lychees is scarce and needs to be picked immediately, so the specified delivery time is not accepted.

"It usually goes on the market in late June, and it is already in the middle and late stages of maturity for hanging green lychees. All orders are placed and shipped, and it is estimated that there will be no more at the end of July." She said, "This is very rare, and Zengcheng people may not have eaten it. ."

Why is it so expensive?

　　The expensiveness of hanging green lychees is not due to marketing, but "rare things are more expensive".

　　According to media reports, as a rare variety of lychees, Zengcheng hanging green was a court tribute in the Qing Dynasty.

During the Jiaqing period, the people could not bear the harassment of officials and cut down all the hanging green lychee trees. Only the Xiyuan Temple in the western suburb of the county (now the hanging green square in Licheng) survived.

　　Today, Zengcheng has more than 4,000 descendants of hanging green plants, all over the towns and streets. These hanging green plants are all grafted from the mother trees in the West Garden.

Data map: Zengcheng hangs green lychees.

Photo by Cheng Jingwei

　　Some merchants said that the more generations of hanging green grafting, the worse the results and the cheaper the price. Most of the hanging greens that can be bought on the market are 3-4 generations.

Zhongxin Finance found that many merchants called the green lychees they sold as second-generation green lychees.

　　The green lychees sold on the market are already so expensive, and the lychees on the green mother tree are even more expensive.

　　From 2001 to 2002, Zengcheng successively auctioned 20 lychees from the mother tree of the West Garden.

In 2002, 10 green lychees were auctioned for a total of 1.315 million yuan, and

and becoming the most expensive fruit in the world.

　　Since then, the Zengcheng government no longer conducts auctions, but repays the people by presenting the green lychees to the "Anti-African Heroes" and "Top Ten Good People".

Is the more expensive the better?

　　In addition to lamenting the price of hanging green lychees, many netizens also focus on: Is such an expensive lychee delicious?

　　Qu Dajun, a famous scholar and poet in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, once described it in "Guangdong Xinyu": "It is as crisp and crisp as a pear when it is hung green, and the pulp is not seen, and it will remain unchanged for three days when the shell is removed."

　　On social platforms, some netizens who have bought it said that hanging green lychees tasted "big and crisp", and some netizens complained, "It's no different from ordinary lychees."

　　Have you tried hanging green lychees?

How does it taste?

(Finish)